Plaintive

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Plaintive \Plain"tive\, a. [F. plaintif. See {Plaintiff}, n.]
     1. Repining; complaining; lamenting. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad. "The
        most plaintive ditty." --Landor.


        [1913 Webster] -- {Plain"tive*ly}, adv. --
        {Plain"tive*ness}, n.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  plaintive
       adj : expressing sorrow [syn: {mournful}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  44 Moby Thesaurus words for "plaintive":
     Jeremianic, aggrieved, anguished, careworn, complaining, doleful,
     dolorous, dumb with grief, faultfinding, fretful, grief-stricken,
     griefful, grieved, grievous, howling, in grief, lamentable,
     lamenting, lamentive, lugubrious, moanful, mournful, peevish,
     petulant, piteous, pitiful, plangent, plunged in grief, puling,
     querulous, rueful, sad, saddening, sorrowed, sorrowful, sorrowing,
     tearful, ululant, wailful, wailing, whimpering, whining, whiny,
     woeful